Sustainability Forums
Sustainability Forums
As part of an ongoing effort to get everyone thinking about improving the environment, the Municipal Sector Committee of the Climate Change Advisory Council launched a series of sustainability forums which attracted representatives from almost every community in the county.
The municipal sustainability forums were an outgrowth of the countywide Global Warming Action Plan, which outlined steps for every sector to follow, including residents, businesses, governments and schools. By meeting with other municipal leaders as well as environmental experts, they discussed issues such as energy, waste, land use and transportation, and see how they are being handled by other communities.
Below are program details and links to some of the informative presentations delivered at all three forums:
Panel A: Building a Sustainability Program in Your Municipality
An overview of the Westchester County Action Plan, subsequent countywide developments, suggested steps that each municipality should take to begin a program for reducing its carbon gas emissions and developing a citizen volunteer organization to engage community support.
June 8 presentations
- Background and Overview of County Actions to Date by Reese Berman, Town Supervisor, Town of North Castle
- Getting Started by Mary Beth Kass, Chair, Bedford Energy Advisory Panel
June 15 presentations
- Getting Started from the persective of Tarrytown Mayor Drex Fixall and Dr. Carole Griffiths, Chair, Tarrytown Energy Advisory Council
Sept. 9 presentations
- Implementation of the Westchester County Action Plan for Climate Change and Sustainable Development by Robert Funicello, Environmental Project Director, Westchester County
- Getting Started by Carol Casazza Herman, Chair, Village of Larchmont Committee on the Environment
Panel B: Best Practices
Panelists described current best practices in each of the four sectors identified in the Westchester County Global Warming Task Force Report and report on the dynamic nature of “state-of-the-art”.
June 8 presentations
- Transportation: Carol Ryan, Regional Manager for Westchester and Rockland Counties, Metro Pool
- Building and Land Use Regulations: Anna Georgiou, Esq., Wormser, Kiely Galef & Jacobs LLP
- Energy Use: Bedford 20 Percent by 2020 by Mark Thielking, Director of Energy Resources, Town of Bedford
- Waste Reduction: Welcome to the Town of New Castle Recycling Center by Anthony Vaccaro, PE, Commissioner of Public Works, Town of New Castle
June 15 presentations
- Transportation: Efficient Municipal Fleet Management by Joseph "Bud" Nicoletti
- Building and Land Use Regulations: Michael Gerrard, Director, Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia University
- Energy Use: Energy-Efficient Street Lights and Energy Performance Contracting by Maribel Cruz Brown, New York Power Authority
- Storm Water Management: A Watershed Approach for Municipalitie and Storm Water Funding Resources by Anne Jaffe Holmes, Greenburgh Nature Center
Sept. 9 presentations
- Waste Water: Impact on the Sound by Nancy Seligson, Councilwoman, Town of Mamaroneck
- Storm Water Management: Jeff Coleman, Department of Public Works Commissioner, City of New Rochelle
- Energy Efficiency: The Babylon Project: Building Green Homes, Green Jobs & Green Communities by Dorian Dale, Energy Director and Sustainability Officer, Town of Babylon, NY
- Recycling and Waste Reduction: Stephen V. Altieri, Town Administrator, Town of Mamaroneck
- Transportation: Efficient Municipal Fleet Management by Thomas M. Roach, Councilman, City of White Plains
- Creating Walkable/Bikeable Communities: Lukas Herbert, Associate Planner, Westchester County. Map of County Trail and Bike Route System
Panel C: Developing a County-wide Communications Network